264 and discretion, that they were plainly obliged to confess to each other, they could find no fault in him; and could not even expect to find any occasion to speak evil of him, “unless it were in something concerning the law of his God.” But, determined to ruin him, if possible, they laid an artful plot to have him punished for his attention to the duties of his religion 1 With this design, they all assembled before the king, as he sat on his throne in the hall of audience, and said, (Dan : vi. 6-8.) “O king, live for ever ! All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and princes, the counsellors, and captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into * den of lions. Now, O king, establish the decree and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.” - It seems passing strange that Darius, who appears to have been a seusible màu, should have been so unwise as to sign such a decree, But the men who
